Creating Your Own Magnificent Leadership®: Practical Application
In this chapter, you’ll find questions that correspond to each of the key factors for Magnificent Leadership®. They are organized by chapter and by leadership of self and leadership of others. You’ll also find a worksheet on The Three Fuel Lines of Magnificent Leadership®.
Chapter 1: Passion Married to a High Tolerance for Uncertainty
Self-Leadership
1. What would you show up for at the kitchen table if no one were watching?
2. What makes you want to go “all in”?
3. What is the best expression of your talents, passions, and abilities, and how can you bring that to your work?
4. When there is a bruising disappointment, when the project flounders, the market shifts, or the client reconsiders, how would you fill in the sentence “Well, at least I still get to . . .”
5. When you’ve experienced significant uncertainty and limbo, what skills have you used to effectively navigate and tolerate that discomfort?
Leadership of Others
1. Is your team passionate about the work and mission of your organization? Are they “all in”?
2. Do you accept that for your organization to get substantially better, it must sometimes fail?
3. Have you assessed what you’re willing to risk to move forward, and have you established measures, guardrails, and timelines?
4. When things don’t go as planned, are you able to lead your team to bounce back with determination, fortitude, and passion?
5. Do you recognize the times when your business is most uncertain, and do you provide additional leadership during those periods so that your team can maintain its creativity and productivity?
Chapter 2: The Lens We Look Through: Framing and Reframing
Self-Leadership
1. Do you practice and cultivate the lens you look through and frame the challenges in your life in such a way that acknowledges the pain but also asks what you might do with that challenge, how you can use it?
2. Do you push yourself to try new experiences? Which experiences have given you more confidence or tapped skills that you didn’t know you had, and how can you get more of those?
3. Do you have a “mantra” that is meaningful to you, one that gives comfort and orients you toward what is possible, even during very difficult times?
4. Are there talents that you have that were sparked by difficulty?
5. If you were to make a bet on yourself, what would it be?
Leadership of Others
1. Do you take it upon yourself as a leader to provide context for both challenge and success to your employees?
2. Do you find ways to convey to employees that their work matters and make that feedback as specific as possible?
3. Does your organization have a story of success that came from challenge and is it part of the culture?
4. Do you hire people who are interested in taking the journey with your organization? Who are able to ride the roller coaster of business with resilience?
5. Are performance reviews aspirational rather than punitive? Are they regarded as a way for already great team members to continue to grow? And do you set the tone by going first?
Chapter 3: Accepting What Is to Create What Can Be
Self-Leadership
1. What helps you to see opportunity and possibility when circumstances change?
2. Are you able to change with the times in ways that are important to your own vitality?
3. Do you consider habits or behaviors that may no longer serve you and do you have a way to change them if you so decide?
4. During tumult and upheaval, do you focus your energy and attention on what you can control, including your perspective? And do you simultaneously give yourself permission to feel the loss of the change?
5. Can you think of a time when you’ve successfully used and applied the formula “Acceptance + Focus on Possibility + Action = Living Courage” in your own life? What did you do, and what can you do to replicate your thinking and actions?
Leadership of Others
1. Do you prioritize weekly strategic thinking time of at least an hour to reflect on and observe change and to stay ahead of the curve in business?
2. Do you hire people who show an ability and comfort with adapting? Who demonstrate creativity, rather than resistance, in the face of change?
3. As a leader, do you encourage new ideas and projects for team members?
4. Are you building a flexible, adaptable organization capable of changing with the times in the key areas of client needs, markets, technology, brand, and competition?
5. Are your initiatives reactive or future focused and strategic?
Chapter 4: Magnificence Is Not a Solo Journey: Finding Someone to Hold the Vision
Self-Leadership
1. Do you have someone with whom you can talk about your hopes and dreams? Whom you trust to talk with about your fears and doubts?
2. If not, can you challenge yourself to approach people in your current circles, personal and professional, to have a mutually supportive relationship where each holds the vision for the other?
3. In the meantime, can you recall a special teacher, mentor, clergy member, family member, colleague, or friend who saw something in you that you did not see in yourself? Can you use that recollection to assist you in whatever your current pursuits are, to bolster your fortitude, perseverance, and belief in yourself?
4. Who do you most often surround yourself with? Do they believe in you and want the best for you? Do they celebrate your success? Are they able to provide comfort in defeat?
5. Did someone once see an opportunity for you that you did not see for yourself, or didn’t feel ready for, that you would consider exploring now? Do you have a vision for your overall success that is bigger than your current accomplishments? Something that means a great deal to you?
Leadership of Others
1. Have you revisited the mission and vision of your organization to ensure that it’s relevant and meaningful?
2. Is your mission and vision part of your daily work and are you and your team deeply connected to it?
3. Do you strive to see the potential of those who work for you? To nourish, encourage, and suggest stretch opportunities for your team members? Do you use specificity of praise when giving feedback to team members to encourage and reward excellence?
4. Do you use performance reviews as opportunities to discuss what employees are curious about or interested in taking on? Where they can grow and learn?
5. Do you have a culture of “finding the work around” when things get tough? One that encourages problem solving?
Chapter 5: Undaunted: Stretching Through Fear
Self-Leadership
1. What do you love so much, feel so committed to, that you’re willing to be scared for it?
2. When circumstances have been daunting, what’s worked to get you to stretch anyway?
3. What do you tell yourself when you’re up against a big challenge? Is it a narrative that’s helpful to accomplishing your goals?
4. What are the talents, skills, and gifts that you bring to any situation that, when applied, allow you to persevere? Are you able to draw on them during times of challenge?
5. Do you have the skills and tools necessary for gaining confidence and decisiveness in a new role and assuming the mantle of leadership? If you are aiming for a promotion, are you aware of what skills you’ll need in the new role, and do you have a plan for either learning or bolstering them? Are you comfortable asking for help and guidance?
Leadership of Others
1. Do you create opportunities for communicating with your direct reports and all of the employees in your organization? Do you have vehicles for information to travel, from you to your team and from the front lines of the organization to you?
2. Is your team capable of meeting current and future needs in the organization? Or are there holes that need to be filled? Have you assessed your bench strength recently?
3. Are you able to inspire and lead your team and organization through trial? And do you have someone whom you trust that you can go to for guidance and perspective?
4. Do you support your team members in stretching their capabilities, and do you have a development program for up-and-coming leaders? Are you actively developing leaders at all levels in your organization? Is leadership development part of the culture? Aspirational?
5. Do you have core beliefs and values as a leader, team, and organization that are guiding principles and are relied upon when the waters get choppy to guide you in decision-making?
Chapter 6: Focusing On Success While Remaining Open to Iteration
Self-Leadership
1. Do you have meaningful goals that you want to achieve, or are you on autopilot?
2. Are you asking yourself and listening deeply about your aspirations and whether they’re still right for you?
3. If they are, do you have a plan for going after them? If they’re not, do you have someone with whom to talk about discovering and uncovering what you want?
4. On your path, are you open to what presents itself, to new information and insights? To altering the plan?
5. Do you create opportunities to experiment and explore, and dip your toe in the water?
Leadership of Others
1. Do you regularly discuss with your team members their individual goals, short and long term, and why they’re important to them? Do you together review their action plans with measures and milestones?
2. Is your organization’s strategy aspirational and in alignment with who you are as a leader and the mission of the organization?
3. Is your organization’s strategy breathable? Is it built to be flexible if circumstances dictate?
4. Does your strategy have buy-in from key stakeholders, agreed-upon measures and check-ins, definitions of success, milestones, and a deep and thorough understanding about its importance and meaning to all involved?
5. Is your strategy designed to take into account the daily rigors and demands of all who are responsible for its execution? Has the strategy been made a priority?
Chapter 7: Questing for Self-Mastery
Self-Leadership
1. Do you know what it feels like to be centered and grounded in your own being and principles? Are you able to pause under stressful situations, even for a moment, to choose your response? Do you know how to find your way back when you’ve drifted from your center? Are you able to effectively prioritize under pressure?
2. Do you have thinking space and time away from the pressures and cacophony of the daily grind? Time to think strategically, to look at the bigger picture? Do you have a trusted guide with whom you can talk about your aspirations, challenges, and successes? Someone who can help you magnify your strengths and value to your team and organization?
3. Are you cultivating a lifelong approach to learning? And are you pursuing relationships with peers and outside resources to broaden your perspective and thinking?
4. Do you use your success and achievement for ever-increasing learning and mastery? Do you continue to pursue challenges?
5. Do you extend your quest for mastery and learning to the work of leadership, itself, always striving to use your talents and abilities to their highest and best use in the context of leading?
Leadership of Others
1. Do you regard yourself as a learner as well as a leader, and does your team know that you don’t have all of the answers all of the time? Do you own up to your mistakes and to being fallible?
2. Do you have a decision-making process that allows for gathering all of the information? Do you encourage, expect, and reward dissent? Do you have checks and balances for your decisions that include, whenever possible, time to take a step back?
3. Do you actively work to establish trust, creating open communication with your team, demonstrating transparency and empathy, being of support and having an open door, and being accessible for questions and ideas? Do you have your own version of “Listening Tours” so you can hear what’s going on in your organization?
4. Do you encourage autonomy and responsibility in your team members, trusting them to do their jobs and being available for support and backup when needed? Do you provide a safety net if they should falter or have questions? Do you push them to excel but not to their detriment? Do you delegate important items and initiatives to your direct reports?
5. Do you believe that people who challenge your thinking make you more robust as a leader and more competitive on the whole as an organization? Do you value all opinion, even if it’s new and not seasoned, thereby mitigating the possibility of a “halo bias”?
Chapter 8: A Connection to Contribution: Creating a Footprint
Self-Leadership
1. What do you want your footprint to say about you? About why you are here?
2. What do you feel most called or compelled to lend your time to?
3. Who are the people that matter most to you? The activities? Are you spending your time proportionate to their meaning?
4. Do you have a way to make meaning in times of challenge? To find a bigger context?
5. What is the work that sustains you the most, that gives you back more energy than it takes, even when you’re working really hard? What fulfills you, helps to buoy you in times of pressure?
Leadership of Others
1. What do you find meaningful about leadership, and are you spending your time, effort, and energy connected to it? Are you merely surviving as a leader? Or have you achieved sustained performance and success?
2. If you were to lead others the way the best leader that you ever had led you, what would that look like? How would you behave?
3. Is a sense of meaning and contribution imbued throughout your organization, from the front lines to the top? Are regular updates communicated?
4. When your organization faces tough times, does everyone know what they’re fighting for? Do you use a connection to contribution as a rallying cry? Are you regularly communicating why the work of the organization matters?
5. As a leader, what is the future that you want to create? For yourself, your team, your organization, and society?